'The Amazing Race': Season 16 winners revealed

There are a whole lot of foods in this world which I quite enjoy. Crow, however, is not among them. Having railed against Brent and Caite all season on "
The Amazing Race," it was entirely possible though that I would find myself with a full plate of crow at the end of the finale. I didn't think it likely, but then again, I would have placed even money on them being eliminated every single week.

The final destination city this year was San Francisco. Inexplicably, despite arriving at the airport last, Jordan decided to place his backpack behind Brent & Caite -- because there was space between the Models and the Cowboys. That meant that the Brothers got their tickets before the Cowboys (because physical violence is a no-no on the race). It was an insane little move, one which could have paid off if the last team was going to be on a different flight, but they weren't so all it did was make it clear once and for all that the Brothers are rotten human beings. On the flight itself Dan & Jordan moved up to first class which was not only legal, but smart, and not mean as well.

Being at the front of the plane, the Brothers did get to the clue box in San Francisco first, but the Cowboys who were in third quickly moved to second when Brent & Caite's taxi got horrifically lost. I don't mind telling you, despite the Brothers' airplane line tactic being ridiculous, I would still have preferred them as the winners over the Models. That's right, you can call me a rotten person but I was thrilled that Brent & Caite's cab got lost and that they were from an early moment very far behind.

The next stop this leg was Coit Tower and the Road Block. Teams had to make a 120-foot vertical climb outside the tower to get the clue. Man, if it only had been raining that could have been quite the task. Dan was well on his way up by the time the Cowboys got there and the Brothers maintained their lead heading to the next location, the "Yoda Fountain" at Lucasfilm.

That was actually a pretty excellent task. One member from each team had to put on a motion capture suit while the other had to sit in front of a computer and direct the motion capture guy through a computerized path. It was made a whole lot more complicated by the fact that if the motion capture guy went through a wall, the team had to start again from the beginning of the level.

After a few early jitters, no team really seemed to have any trouble with it. Well, they didn't except for when Jordan was standing in our Cowboys' virtual way, stopping their progress. I can't fault the Brothers for not wanting to get out of the Cowboys way either -- much like the line, whomever was there first deserved the spot. Happily for me, Jet didn't actually have to wait for Jordan to move, he was able to just shuffle far enough, but the Cowboys did seem to lose a ton of time thinking they had to wait.

Where the Brothers and the Cowboys did stumble was figuring out how to read the spinning text that was the clue which appeared once the teams completed level 2. Honestly though, the Cowboys, who saw Jordan spinning around, should have figured out the spinning thing more quickly than they did. Even the Models got it instantly.

The clue led teams to the Tonga Room where they had to grab a trunk and then head to the Great American Music Hall. By the time the Cowboys worked out where they were headed, the Models were right on their tail. Or, they were until Brent & Caite forgot the pack with their money (and goodness knows what else) at Lucasfilm and had to head back to get it.

At the Great American Music Hall, teams got the memory challenge, and much like this entire season it was kind of a starter-level version. There was no working out which Road Block was in what country with which native animal nearby, no massive field of clue boxes, no surfboards. There were instead 11 record album covers -- one for each of the eight eliminated teams and one for each of the non-elimination legs. Once the album covers were in order, teams got a rhyme which led them to their final Pit Stop location, Candlestick Park.

The Brothers hit the memory task first and as it was incredibly easy, they finished it first too. They headed to Candlestick and won this season of "The Amazing Race." And, for those keeping score, they could have done it without their ridiculous stunt of cutting in line. It looked like it was pretty close as the Brothers seemed to have trouble getting a cab to head to Candlestick, but I'm not sure it actually was. The entire leg didn't seem very close, did it?

Want to know the best moment tonight? It was after the leg ended when Caite tried to apologize to the lesbians. It was a stand up thing for Caite to do (and I'm not convinced she needed to anyway), and it was completely rebuffed by Brandy. Carol even seemed embarrassed by her partner (and rightly so). But, it was fun to watch anyway.

Odds and ends:

No crow for me!

Caite used some foul language tonight. At least she found the right words.

The Cowboys giving fake directions at ILM was awesome... almost as awesome as the virtual cowboy hat.

The Cowboys do still have their character and integrity intact, don't they? I'm not sure any of the other final three can say the same.

No, I don't think the right team won, but I'm convinced that the wrong team didn't.